Any Epos ES11 owners?
Garmt van der Zel
I am looking for a decent amp (up to $1500) to drive my Epos ES11
loudspeakers. Can anyone give me advice on a good match or tell me
what amp they are driving the Epos with themselves?
I mainly listen to Ambient music, pop-music like the Cowboy Junkies
and music from ECM records.
General comments are also welcome!
Garmt van der Zel
Delft, The Netherlands
Firth of Fifth
Garmt van der Zel wrote:
> I am looking for a decent amp (up to $1500) to drive my Epos ES11
> loudspeakers. Can anyone give me advice on a good match or tell me
> what amp they are driving the Epos with themselves?
Don't mean to sound rude, but why would you consider spending almost
$1500 on an amp for pair of sub-$1000 speakers? If you do so, you
aren't getting the best sound for your money.
I suggest you look at an inexpensive integrated amp like an Arcam or
NAD, or better yet, a powerful integrated from Yahama, Sony or
Onkyo. I wouldn't scoff if someone suggested you drive the ES11's with
a decent receiver. They are fine speakers indeed, but keep the
amplification on the cost-effective side.
Frankly, you'd be better off selling the ES11's used for $400-$500,
using that for an integrated amp and then buying $1500 loudspeakers
(as opposed to buying a $1500 amp). Anyone who tells you differently
needs a shot of reason.
Brian
LunaGroup
Firth of Fifth <beg...@psu.edu> (Brian) wrote:
<<Garmt van der Zel wrote:
> I am looking for a decent amp (up to $1500) to drive my Epos ES11
> loudspeakers. Can anyone give me advice on a good match or tell me
> what amp they are driving the Epos with themselves?
Don't mean to sound rude, but why would you consider spending almost
$1500 on an amp for pair of sub-$1000 speakers? If you do so, you
aren't getting the best sound for your money. [snip] I wouldn't scoff if
someone suggested you drive the ES11's with a decent receiver. They are
fine speakers indeed, but keep the amplification on the cost-effective
side.
[snip]
Brian>>
Since when is the retail cost of a component the only indicator of
it's quality, and of it's ability to PLAY MUSIC!? You're right--the
ES-11's are real fine speakers, and if real fine amplification happens
to cost a bit more to aquire--then so be it! I'm sure there a several
"lower cost" amps that would also work very well, and I'm all for
exhausting all possiblities before trying a high-cost component.
My (admittedly limited) experience with the Epos's was using a 50 watt
solid-state amp that ran Class A--a model from Kinergetics, but I
forget the exact name of it. I would also suggest that Garmt van der
Zel try the Forte Model 4--this amps lists for around $1400 or so. It
is another great amp--very similar "specs". Or, try the Golden Tube
SE-40 (if the Epos's are not too low impedance), or any of the very
reasonable amps from B&K, Rotel, Parasound, and the like--some of
which are in the $500 price range!
Sincerely, Neil Blanchard
Firth of Fifth
LunaGroup wrote:
> Since when is the retail cost of a component the only indicator of
> it's quality, and of it's ability to PLAY MUSIC!? You're right--the
> ES-11's are real fine speakers, and if real fine amplification
> happens to cost a bit more to aquire--then so be it! I'm sure there
> a several "lower cost" amps that would also work very well, and I'm
> all for exhausting all possiblities before trying a high-cost
> component.
The point of the matter is that amplifiers make far less of a
difference than a loudspeaker. So, in the case of this individual, he
should look at inexpensive amplification. I cannot think of a $1500
amp that will sound so much better with ES 11's than a $500 one. Power
differences aside, it just won't happen. Otherwise, he should have
considered more expensive speakers if he had "this much money" lying
around. There are definitely $1500 speakers around that sound better
than the ES 11's, though to pick one is very subjective.
I don't judge sound quality by the price of the component. However,
when you are talking about $2000-$2500 for a pair of speakers and an
amp, it wouldn't be very prudent to allocate much over half for the
amp. Heck, blow $2000 on something like the Gallo Solo and a decent
Yahama integrated like the AX-570.
Brian
Vreen
I had ES11's for a while. They are pretty exceptional performers and
do benefit from better amplification. The problem I had with the
ES11's was their metal dome tweeter, it rings a bit, especially on
female vocals. I couldn't live with the ringing.
An amplifier with a rolled off high end or a tube amplifier would be
appropriate. I had a PSE amplifier, but have since sold that and I am
looking at Coda, Bryston and a few others, slightly up from your price
range. I would steer away from the McCormack stuff as it tends to be
a little bright and forward, which should chase you out of the room.
Same with the NAD stuff. I would consider Classe NEW (but only the DC
series-the AC series are too forward sounding).
As a final parting thought, the receivers suggested simply are not up
to par of the ES11's. Your speakers will image and develop a bottom
end with better amplification. This latter comment probably sounds
either counterintuitive or like crap, but this is what my first hand
experience has shown me. BTW, don't overlook appropriate cables (they
do work something like "tone controls", but so does the matching of
imperfect amplifiers and speakers).
Cheers,
larry
Byoung Park
vr...@aol.com (Vreen) wrote:
>An amplifier with a rolled off high end or a tube amplifier would be
>appropriate. I had a PSE amplifier, but have since sold that and I am
>looking at Coda, Bryston and a few others, slightly up from your price
>range. I would steer away from the McCormack stuff as it tends to be
>a little bright and forward, which should chase you out of the room.
>Same with the NAD stuff. I would consider Classe NEW (but only the DC
>series-the AC series are too forward sounding).
>Cheers,
You need to hear the McCormacks again, perhaps in another audio store.
Once properly broken in (about 100 hours should do), the brightness
simply disappears. What you are left with is a very smooth, slightly
warm sounding amp with tremendous bass capability.
-------------
Byoung Park
-------------
Lead me not into temptation, for I can find it myself...
Kevin Tsang
Firth of Fifth <beg...@psu.edu> wrote in article
<5116cd$q...@eyrie.graphics.cornell.edu>...
> I suggest you look at an inexpensive integrated amp like an Arcam or
> NAD, or better yet, a powerful integrated from Yahama, Sony or
> Onkyo. I wouldn't scoff if someone suggested you drive the ES11's with
> a decent receiver. They are fine speakers indeed, but keep the
> amplification on the cost-effective side.
>
> Frankly, you'd be better off selling the ES11's used for $400-$500,
> using that for an integrated amp and then buying $1500 loudspeakers
> (as opposed to buying a $1500 amp). Anyone who tells you differently
> needs a shot of reason.
I completely agree with Brian point out that ES11 can be well driven
by inexpensive amp. But I don't quite agree with the point that using
$15k speaker instead. Yes, ES11 is a cheap speaker, but it cut down
the production cost by means of crossoverless design, rather than
using cheap parts. The woofer is roll-off acoustically but not
electrically, so there is no passive parts between the amp and the
speakers. And only one cap in the signal path of tweeter. As a
result, a very transparent sound.
Actually, I can't easily find a under $15k speaker which superior than
ES11 in every aspect.
Kevin
MICHAEL BERK
In article <510162$l...@biosun.harvard.edu> kri...@worldaccess.nl
(Garmt van der Zel) writes:
> I am looking for a decent amp (up to $1500) to drive my Epos ES11
> loudspeakers. Can anyone give me advice on a good match or tell me
> what amp they are driving the Epos with themselves?
> I mainly listen to Ambient music, pop-music like the Cowboy Junkies
> and music from ECM records.
[ quoted text deleted -- jwd ]
Epos speakers were designed and optimised using naim amps. They would
be a logical choice.
charlie kasim
Mc Cormacks amplifier tend to sound bright when dealing with low
impedance speakers, such as Thiel and Apogee. I found out about this
after trying it myself. It sounds really good on my ProAc Response 1s
though.
Charlie
>An amplifier with a rolled off high end or a tube amplifier would be
>appropriate. I had a PSE amplifier, but have since sold that and I am
>looking at Coda, Bryston and a few others, slightly up from your price
>range. I would steer away from the McCormack stuff as it tends to be
>a little bright and forward, which should chase you out of the room.
>Same with the NAD stuff. I would consider Classe NEW (but only the DC
>series-the AC series are too forward sounding).
You need to hear the McCormacks again, perhaps in another audio store.